John Mellencamp Releases New Song, ‘Easy Target,’ Album With Carlene Carter Also Planned

John Mellencamp has released a new song, "Easy Target." You can watch the lyric video for the song, which he calls a "reflection on the state of our country," above.

A press release describes the track as a continuation of Mellencamp's "journey to convey the truth through this passionate and plain-spoken song." His most recent album, from 2014, was also titled Plain Spoken. It marked Mellencamp's fourth consecutive Top 20 album, dating back to 2007's Freedom Road.

Mellencamp shared the lyrics for the song on his Facebook page.

"Easy Target" doesn't appear to be part of an upcoming collaborative project with country singer Carlene Carter. Mellencamp has said they recorded a duets album while touring over the past couple of years. Reportedly titled Sad Clowns and Hillbillies, that LP could arrive as soon as February.

"We wrote a couple of songs together," Mellencamp confirmed in an interview last year with USA Today, "and she wrote some, and I wrote some."

Mellencamp has been working with Carter onstage since he invited her to sing on the soundtrack to the 2014 film Ithaca, directed by Meg Ryan. "We both have been uncompromised artists," Carter, the stepdaughter of Johnny Cash, told the Columbia Daily Tribune in October. "I think we have that in common, almost like little rebels."

Carter is expected to again open for Mellencamp on a tour set for later this year.